Probably one of the best mixed albums of all time, up there with Rage of the Machine's title album is DC Talk's Free at Last. Below are some of the other albums that I would swear by with great mixing, mastering and dynamics to test any sound system.

Going over to Youtube this morning to watch something that "Isabella" sent me about some dumb trailer about "The Last Supper" official trailer and ended up watching the full ad for "Dracula Untold" instead and skipping her little video.

The trailer (and Wikipedia) probably gives everything away about what you will go see this October.

A dude named Vlad is a real badass and he loves his wife and wants to protect the fine people of the Principality of Wallachia from the evil Ottoman Empire. His father was a member of the Order of the Dragon that had sworn to do so, and this is his lot in life.

Well he can't very well do that because he has no army or they are all semi-retarded or something and somehow he is the only one who can fight his way out of a potato-sack.

So he does the Batman/Leonidas thing and goes to seek out Ra's al Ghul/Oracle and give over his soul to Tywin Lannister at Casterly Rock which looks just like some weird cave-fort in the middle of a mountain-side. It must suck being old Tywin. He alone has been waiting for (whatever amounts to a long time or) fifty billion decades or something for a man to have the strength to get to him. God knows if he would have waited too long and some jerk with a helicopter would have gotten to him.

And so we have the classic "In a world" phrase born. There is a formula to this phrase, and I will teach it to you. Here it is. And you have to imagine me saying this real low and raspy.

In a world... (In a world)
Where justice is given at the edge of a sword... (The establishing shot)
A man will go on a journey... (It's always a man on a journey or something)
And protect his people. (Woah, something really at stake here)
...And then some action scenes of him with a sword...
He will fight... (They always fight or strive or whatever)
To destroy evil... (Because Muslims are evil of course)
By becoming evil himself. (Not sure what the hell Tywin Lannister is at this point except Satan)
...More fighting except he has bats as his fists this time...

Something like that.

Seems like a really cool movie ruined by a bunch of special effects... No wait. I said that about the original "Total Recall".

This movie says that America will fight Terrorism by becoming Terrorists themselves.

Think about it.

In the movie a Christian leader has to make a deal with the devil to defend his people against a Muslim invasion.

Uncommon but not unheard of, a woman knelt on her hands and her knees there by the alter. The view of the sunrise angled in at her face, but her head was down in silent prayer. I could tell that she had been there for a little while, as her knees were pock-marked with the tiny pebbles and grass that was found from last nights mowing. The sun greeted her, as she lifted her eyes to me when I arrived and I smiled at her.

She rose, wiping a solitary tear from her eye and smiled back.

"How is your heart?" I asked her.

With a deep sigh and a look up of quick contemplation she said with a hopeful voice: "It's getting better and better."

A slow warmth crept over my skin and in my soul as I understood her response from the evident place of pain.

"God bless you ma'am." I said in seriousness.

And she left. Walking to her truck, climbing in, and driving away.

Things are fine here at YMCA Camp Tecumseh. The peace of God is even bringing in sinners off the street.

do i remember my childhood toys? - i remember these vividly. at this time in my youth i was insanely dealing with my (dangerouly evil and maniacal) adventure people astronauts and robots (and the hang-glider guy) versus my (magestic and heroic) star wars figures.

inadvertently, some of my gi-joe guys would try to show up and help the star wars guys but unfortunately, their shallow rubber-band pelvis-thrust antics would be ineffectual against the demonic robotic legion. it was usually left up to r2d2 and his droid factory to create a mechanized weapon after all the humans were left slaughtered. the main plot-line would be one of celebration of the robots - they, thinking that they had cleansed the universe of the scum of man, would not suspect the traitor r2d2 in their midst.

unfortunately, at this time in the child-mind-movies, it would be the lego people who would be created from some dire circumstance at the droid factory and r2d2 would heroically defend his sentient creation in an epic, last minute battle, having hacked robot opticon into defeating the evil leader clawtron. i didn't have any room for monsters in my childhood it seemed. or if i did, they didn't inhabit humanoid form. for some reason, it was always machines and men. odd really, in retrospect.

on sunday we will begin another mural, one which i am particularly excited about. the indiana department of transportation gave us an incredible space: on SR 43/N. River Rd. in west lafayette, we will be painting a mural of robots on the concrete supports for the US52 overpass. this space has had grey splotches of painted over graffiti tags for as long as i can remember. and it has also been a space i've wanted to paint since the first time i drove past it on my way to chicago.

the walls are immense, 30+ feet tall and around 30 feet wide, and there are 4 of them (however the back two pylons are only about 15 feet tall). i have invited fellow stencil artist Pete Brown to join me in creating this mural. he will be creating 'pop icon' robots and i will be using my own drawings in a color palette of rusting steel and oxidizing coppers. we're both cutting stencils, which will give a really nice consistency in the images, because the styles are very different.

today i started in on the giants, creating stencils for portions of the piece, while freehand painting the less detailed shapes. the picture at the right is a bit sawed off, but the wall of my studio is only 10ft tall, and it works good enough for testing out combinations of stencils. the top of his head is at about 9ft. up, so he will eventually be about 16-18ft tall when i add legs and the bottom 1/3 of his torso. i'm testing out the the rust color combination also. i wanted to try it out before i decided what kind of paint i could get away with. the diamond plate looks great and it was easier than i thought it was gonna be. i've also got several other heads, gears, pulleys, chains, rope, pipes, a clamp, claws, hands, wheels, and all kinds of other little details to add on. this piece will be seen almost entirely by traffic driving past, but i want the details to be detailed up close too.

i've still got several stencils to cut, but we prime on sunday, and i should have enough ready to go by then. painting murals is fun, they become part of the fabric of a community. this one will be a lot of fun and hopefully people will enjoy it enough to slow down as they pass it on the road.

Find the Robot Bridge on google maps at 2399 IN-43, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States.

♦ retrieved two old canvases from the trash that need work
♦ created and/or fixed ten "empires and generals" cards
♦ typed three thousand words on my new novel - "by the gates of the garden of eden"
♦ printed beta version of my game: "kitty collector"
♦ photographed a cool bridge
♦ got in touch with a bookstore about carrying my book when it's published
♦ made a social structure diagram
♦ designed a toy for my cat
♦ wrote a song
♦ diagnosed my carburetor as a-ok and convinced myself i need a new fuel pump

It’s one of the most controversial diagnoses of our time, and it’s affecting more children than ever. According to a recent statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis was 1 in 68 in 2012, compared with only 1 in 88 in 2010, a jump of about 30 percent in 2 years.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), ASD is a “range of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotypes patterns of behavior.”

For their research, the CDC analyzed information from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, estimating of prevalence of autism among 8-year old children in 11 different sites.

Their findings reveal that autism is far more common in boys than girls—nearly five times so. One in 42 boys have ASD while for girls the rate is just 1 in 189. It is also more common in white children than in black or Hispanic kids.

“Community leaders, health professionals, educators and childcare providers should use these data to ensure children with ASD are identified as early as possible and connected to the services they need,” says Coleen Boyle, PhD, director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

She’s right in that identifying these children early can begin interventionist therapies early, including speech therapy and even counseling. What’s frightening, however, is when you consider all of the children diagnosed with ASD who are being prescribed powerful medications to control their symptoms.

Despite the growing number of children with the disorders, we still don’t know what’s causing it. The NINDS says it’s believed both genetics and environment play a role in ASD, as scientists have identified a “number of genes associated with the disorder.”

Often, children with autism have abnormal levels of serotonin or other important messenger chemicals in the brain, suggesting it could arise from genetic defects or even environmental factors that disrupt gene function.

If factors like these are at the root of the climbing autism numbers, we cannot wait for officials to legislate or mandate prevention programs. Parents must educate themselves on the research available even before they get pregnant, and do what they can to prevent this challenging disorder in their future kids.

This is just the latest revelation in the stealth inflation and food fraud theme I have written about frequently in recent months. The non-profit group Oceana took samples of 1,215 fish sold in the U.S. and genetic tests found that that 59% of those labeled tuna were mislabeled. It seems that “white tuna” should be avoided in particular as “84% of fish samples labeled “white tuna” were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage.” Oh and if you live in my hometown of New York City, you should pay particular attention:

Big Apple has big problem with seafood fraud: 94 percent of tuna and more than three quarters of sushi samples in New York City mislabeled.

94 percent?

Of the 142 fish samples collected in New York, 39 percent were mislabeled. New York City led the nation with the highest occurrence of mislabeled salmon as well as the highest amount of fraud among salmon collected from grocery stores and restaurants.

Cow: a mature female bovine that has given birth to at least one or two calves. Colloquially, the term "cow" is also in reference to the Bos primigenius species of domestic cattle, regardless of age, gender, breed or type. However for most people who work with or raise cattle, this term is not used in the same reference as previously noted.

Bull: a mature, intact (testicles present and not removed) male bovine used for breeding purposes.

Steer: a male bovine (or bull) that has been castrated before reaching sexual maturity and is primarily used for beef.

Stag: a male bovine (or bull) that has been castrated after or upon reaching sexual maturity and is primarily used for beef, but can and is also often used as a "gomer bull" for detecting cows and heifers in heat.

Heifer: a female bovine (often immature, but beyond the "calf" stage) less than 1 to 2 years of age that has never calved. Such females, if they've never calved beyond two years of age may also be called heiferettes.

Bred Heifer: a female bovine that is pregnant with her first calf.

First-calf Heifer or First-calver: a female bovine that has given birth to her first calf, and is often around 24 to 36 months of age, depending on the breed and when she was first bred.

Ox (plural: Oxen): a bovine that is trained for draft work (pulling carts, wagons, plows, etc.)This is a term that primarily refers to a male bovine that has been castrated after maturity. However, an ox can also be female bovine (cow or heifer) or even a bull that has been trained for the same purpose. In the Biblical times, an ox was a general term used, just like with the term "cows," to a domesticated bovine regardless of age, gender, breed, type, or draft purposes.

Calf (plural: Calves): an immature bovine (male and female) that is reliant on milk from its dam or from a bottle in order to survive and grow. A calf is known as such from birth to around 10 months of age.

Bull calf: an immature intact male bovine (since all males are born with testes) that is reliant on milk from his dam or a bottle for growth and survival.

Steer calf: an immature male bovine that has been castrated a few days to a couple months after birth, and is reliant on milk from his dam or a bottle for growth and survival.

Heifer calf: an immature female bovine that is reliant on milk from her dam or a bottle for growth and survival.

Freemartin: an infertile or sterile heifer or heifer calf. Such infertility is a result of being maternally twinned with a bull calf which placental tissues were shared in the womb. During the first trimester, reproductive organs start to form and sexual hormones begin to be produced in the fetus. When male and female fetal calves are twinned together, the testosterone produced by the male inhibits estrogen production in the female. This results in abnormal, underdeveloped or hermaphroditic reproductive organs in the female fetus. This is not so for the male. Freemartins are sometimes referred as "hermaphrodites" if they are born with reproductive organs of both genders. As a result, these type of freemartins tend to develop secondary male sexual characteristics (muscular crest over neck, wide forehead, etc.) upon reaching puberty.

Cattle: general plural term for more than one bovine

Cattlebeast/bovine/animal: a singular term for a bovine whose gender cannot be determined, particularly when viewed at a distance. Most people like to call a bovine of unknown (or "unknown") gender as a "cow," simply because it is a much more well-known and popular term to use than "bovine" or "cattlebeast." This, however, is often not the case around experienced cattlemen and cattlewomen or "ranchers" (as some like to call them) who never use the term "cow" when referring to a bovine that is anything but a cow. "Animal," "critter," "creature," or any other term, coarse or not, are most often used over the colloquial word "cow."